Memo To The ACLU: Don't Put Women Into Combat

A prototype of a the new female specific Women's Army Combat Uniform is modeled on the left and the bulkier, stright cut standard issue unisex uniform is at right. (Image credit: AFP/Getty Images via @daylife)

Many nights as I stroll into the kitchen after work three little ones come at a gallop. My daughters arrive first, bearing hugs, one on each arm. Then my son with a grin so bright and so big it barely fits his face lands a haymaker in the one spot a three year old can hurt you. As many parents can attest, boys and girls differ.

Try as the Left may to thwart reality, adult men and women remain different. It’s impossible to comprehend human interactions without recognizing this undeniable certainty. Nevertheless, the American Civil Liberties Union has launched legal action against the Department of Defense. The lawsuit seeks to pry open one of the last pursuits still exclusively masculine, serving in combat.

The Marine Corps has opened Infantry Officers Course for a pilot program to study how well women could perform in combat roles. The first two females, and only two entered, both quickly flopped; one on the first day, the other within a week. No female marines have yet opted for the next session.

Women aren’t lining up for these positions; it’s mostly activist intellectuals trying to shoehorn pretenses into reality. The Marine Corps began this study at the behest of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Service (DACOWITS). The Obama administration meddles to fix what isn’t broken. America’s combat units have performed well for over two centuries.

At college, after serving in the Marine Corps infantry, it became apparent that all liberal academics cared about the military was whatever sexual harassment scandal then cycled through the news. One would think the armed forces were social engineering mechanisms. Nary any inkling that marines protect our country, their point is fighting and winning wars. Nope, to the Left, it’s all about opportunities for women to invade previously masculine fields.

This is no civil rights matter. Men and women are legally equal, but are not identical and never will be. Biological, psychological and other innate differences between sexes are undeniable. Even if you believe nature authored these distinct attributes, there is no getting around them. Pretending otherwise does neither sex justice.

There was a study done of women marines during my service. It revealed alarming numbers of WMs who lacked the strength to pull the slide back on a service pistol, an inability to throw hand grenades far enough to refrain from blowing themselves up and little capacity to carry wounded comrades to safety.

Every Friday morning we’d bemusedly watch as the HQ elements went on their weekly PT run. The mostly male main body would scurry past and there would inevitably follow a long trail of women marines casually walking along behind. Maybe a paramour or two accompanying their leisurely strolls back to the barracks.

There are likely many women who can hack it physically, particularly in the short term. Over longer spans, however, few women have the endurance, the skeletal structure, the muscularity, to withstand the physical brutality of combat. We can lessen the requirements so more women qualify, but when bullets fly, truth will prove costly.

Female bodies don't often translate to toting combat gear. This is a blessing to both sexes. Technology has reduced the physicality of modern combat, at least in some aspects, but it’s still war. The psychological stresses remain. Women have and continue to fulfill many essential functions. In today’s unfortunate environment occupying lands and serving as the world’s policeman, women are pivotal to overcome cultural barriers in Muslim nations, like interacting with local women.

As the ACLU’s lawsuit observes, women serve in dangerous proximity to front line combat units. Shamefully, America allows young ladies to be broken and killed. A few have been violated as POWs. Two of the plaintiffs have earned Purple Hearts. Per Elizabeth Gill, an ACLU attorney, “They’re fighting in exactly the same circumstances as men but they’re not recognized for that work.”

What kind of sick society puts young women of child bearing age in such peril?

The courageous young heroines who have endured combat missions deserve our recognition, nay our praise. But it’s essential that we limit their duties in theatre. It comes down to our nation’s very essence.

Men go off to fight protecting hearth, and home. For millennia this meant defending women and families. Feminism has long eclipsed romantic notions of chivalry, but the military embodies one of the last vestiges of manliness; where men can prove worthy. For argument’s sake, pretend women are just as physically able and psychologically predisposed to battle, seeing a woman being blown apart has an unsettling effect on men.

When battle begins, you fight for the man beside you, but this too becomes convoluted with women serving in elite combat ranks. Unit cohesion is paramount. There’s male bonding. There’s the sexual elephant in the room testified to by high incidence of pregnancy during deployments. There are gender specific health concerns, personal hygiene and what happens in a foxhole when nature calls?

Some complain that disallowing women in combat hampers their career advancement. A RAND Corporation study shows women have not suffered any ill effects. Overturning bans on certain functions could potentially benefit some women, but at what overall cost? Many nations on the cusp of losing have enlisted adolescent boys and old men to fight. Some have been engaged in such existential struggles that they found it necessary for women too.

America faces no such dire predicament. Don’t upset social orders for feminist fantasies.